Leaving the Place Where Our Hearts Remain

This morning, we got up and celebrated our last Mass at the St. Francis Inn. In the homily, Fr. Bill stressed the importance of becoming who we are and seeing with the eyes of God. Fr. Bill must have been eaves dropping in on our reflection nights because these are two topics that we have been stressing very much as we have been doing our service. Most notably Fr. Bill said, "You each have a unique vocation, and though you may not have discovered it yet, you are on the journey to becoming that person. In fact, you already are that person, you just haven't peeled off enough layers yet!" (I'm definitely paraphrasing here a bit, but you get the idea.)

At the end of Mass, the Franciscan Volunteer Ministers (who have become our great friends this week) gave each of us a Tau Cross (a symbol of Franciscans) to remind us of our time at the Inn. We are forever changed by our experiences here and we are blessed to have this small reminder of the special times we have shared together.

The St. Francis Inn is like no other place on this earth. I highly suggest everyone take some time to serve a meal or two next time you are in Philadelphia. But be warned, those who serve at the St. Francis Inn on a "temporary" basis find themselves still there twenty years later. It's love in action, that's for sure...and who would want to walk away from that?